Does it even matter if foreign countries are Democracies or not just as long as they have capitalist economies

Question

and they have open trade with the USA?

Answer 1

Capitalism can only survive in a democracy.

Answer 2

If you are a fascist, no, it doesn't matter. Saddam Hussein was "our" (Bush and Reagan's) friend for almost 10 years before he "became" a bad guy. Maybe part of the incentive for the latest Iraq scam was to shut up the guy they double-crossed.

Manuel Noriega was another guy who was useful until he became a problem. (Maybe the Contras complained that he was competing with their drug-running scam.)

The whole reason Iran had a gripe against us in 1979 was that in the early 50's, the CIA overthrew their elected prime minister and installed the Shah. The Rockefeller descendants of the Standard Oil Robber Barons demanded this insurrection. (The stupid voters blamed Carter, the Democrat, for something that was set in motion during the Republican Eisenhower administration.)

When money talks, democracy goes out the window. Unless capitalism is regulated, it will overthrow democracy. It may already be too late for the U.S.

Answer 3

Probably one of the best articles I have ever read on this subject is Robert Kaplan's "Was Democracy Just a Moment," from the Atlantic Monthly. Here's a link to it online:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199712/democracy-kaplan

In more direct response to your question, I would ask "matters to who, and in what context?"

Also, Democracy and capitalism aren't exactly the most comfortable bedfellows, especially in terms of US foreign policy, as you can see from this article by Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor:

http://www.robertreich.org/reich/20070901.asp

That might be a longer answer than what you were looking for, but it's not an easy question to answer, and opinions will be wide and varied on the subject. I hope these articles help in some way, though.

Answer 4

It's a long term process, but I think one leads to the other.

Once you've taken care of people's basic needs, they start to expect more of their government. Look at China and Vietnam. Both have come a long way.

If both stay capitalist, I don't see either being anything other than a democracy in 30 years.

Answer 5

I would ask does it really matter if countries are capitalist as long as they are democracies?

Would you rather live in Hitler's capitalist system or Norways socialist democracy?

I take freedom over money. (personal freedom over economic deregulation)

Answer 6

As your avatar nic reveals, a capitalist economy is a "FREE" market. That begs the question of how a FREE MARKET can operate without a FREE GOVERNMENT. And, to carry it one step further, "democracy" is only one method to operate a REPUBLIC, or representative form of government as we have here in the U.S.. The U.S. is a REPUBLIC, n-o-t a democracy. The democratic electoral process SUPPORTS a REPUBLIC form of government. God Bless you.

Answer 7

There are almost no democracies in the Middle East and Asia, and most of those countries have free trade with the U.S., so the obvious answer is...........................

Answer 8

It depends on who you're asking. I think the ruling forces in US foreign policy are more interested in seeing that economies are capitalist than that their governments are representative or democratic.

Answer 9

Excellent Point!

Finally, someone that can think and speak coherent sentences.

Capitalist economies empower people to participate in economic and political issues. They are able to adjust to economic and world conditions.

The results are always good for the world.

Answer 10

I think the key word is not democracy nor capitalism; the key word is profit.